


what are you waiting for

by dancinginthesunlight



Series: Portfolio [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Confessions, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 15:14:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18802903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancinginthesunlight/pseuds/dancinginthesunlight
Summary: Taking a deep breath, Lance let it out slowly as he looked at the ceiling. “Hunk, he’s never going to like me. Well, obviously he likes me but he doesn’t like like me, you know? Fuck man, he’s so pretty like, I would do anything just to be able to tell him how gorgeous he is right? He’s never going to feel the same way but oh dear god I already love him. I’m so out of his league I don’t even know why I bother to hope that he could ever like me back.” Lance rushed out.





	what are you waiting for

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Angel_Tortured](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Tortured/gifts).



> This was written for @Angel_Tortured as part of the Shance Flower Exchange!  
> The prompt was Snapdragons  
> I hope you enjoy your gift!

“Good job today team!” Shiro smiled at the group surrounding him. He tucked his helmet under his right arm and let the other hang by his side. He made a point to smile at each paladin individually. “We’re becoming stronger every day. I’m proud of you.”

“Real cute, Shiro.” Pidge scoffed, smirking at him cheekily. 

“Hey! Let the man praise us!” Lance spoke up from Shiro’s side. Turning his head, Shiro smiled gently down at Lance.

“Thank you. You did a great job today.” He said in earnest, watching as Lance’s face turned a light shade of red. 

“Thank you, Shiro. You were great today too.” He said quietly in return.

“Stop flirting and tell us we can go,” Pidge spoke up again, watching as the two instantly turned away from each other, both stuttering their way through protests.

“We were not flirting!” Lance shouted, crossing his arms and pouting.

Pidge scoffed causing Hunk and Keith to laugh loudly.

Shiro chuckled quietly before turning back to the team. “Alright, alright. Time to be serious.” He waited a moment as they all settled down and diverted their attention back to him. “We need to really focus our efforts on the next part of this mission. This planet has the most galra prisoners in this sector so far. We _cannot_ afford to mess any of this up. These people are depending on us to save them.”

“Shiro, don’t worry!” Hunk exclaimed. “We’re a really good team as you said and we’ve done things like this before. We can do this!”

“Yeah, we can just go in and _pow! Pow! Pow!_ We destroy the galra and free the prisoners.” Lance said, perking up and flailing his arms around in a demonstration.

“Not again Lance.” Hunk rolled his eyes but gave himself away with a small chuckle. “We both know that that’s not the noise of laser guns.”

“Okay, we’re _not_ going to do this again.” Keith interrupted, throwing his arms out, just about keeping from accidentally hitting Lance in the face with his helmet.

Lance yelped and backed away, knocking into Shiro causing them to both stumble a little.

Shiro managed to steady himself and caught Lance, holding him close to his chest. They stood still for a moment before Lance slowly pushed away from Shiro.

“Thanks for catching me,” Lance said quietly, his face going red once more. “Is the briefing over?” Keeping his head down and avoiding eye contact, he quickly made his way out of the room without waiting for a response.

Silence settled over the rest of the team, all eyes turning to Shiro, watching as he gazed hopelessly after Lance.

“What was that all about?” Pidge asked, sharing a look with Hunk.

Shaking himself out of his trance, Shiro shrugged and started to make his way towards the door. “You can all leave, we’ve finished briefing today. I’m going to train if anyone needs me.”

Keith, Hunk and Pidge all shared a look, Pidge shaking her head.

“How long do you think it’ll take them to realise that they’re being stupid?”

“At this point, it’s looking like _forever_.” Hunk said, rolling his eyes once more and sighing. “Well, I’m going to go and see Lance.”

“I’ll go and check on Shiro.” Keith agreed, both leaving the room.

Pidge looked around the empty room before shrugging. “I’ll just chill by myself then.”

***

One thing Lance’s mother had always told him whilst he was growing up, was that pacing never did anything other than wear a hole in the carpet. Whilst it was good advice, it never did stop him from doing so.

“Lance?” Hunk called, knocking on his door. “Are you okay?”

Lance paused, biting his lip. “Not really.” He called back, collapsing onto his bed.

Hunk opened the door, his shoulders slumping at the pitiful sight of his friend. He entered the room, locked the door behind him and took a seat at the edge of the bed. “Okay buddy, I’m here.”

“What is wrong with me, Hunk?” Lance asked, voice slightly muffled by his pillows. “I can’t even stand being in the same room as him now.”

“There is nothing wrong with you, buddy,” Hunk said, voice slightly defensive. “You have a crush on him, there’s nothing you can do about it.” 

“At least you’ve stopped telling me that I should tell him,” Lance said after a pause, moving his face to the side so it wasn’t smushed by his pillow. 

“Don’t worry, I’m saving that for another day.”

Lance huffed out a laugh and turned so he was lying on his back. “Of course you are.”

“So,” Hunk started, shifting around so he was seated more comfortably on Lance’s bed. “What’s up?”

Taking a deep breath, Lance let it out slowly as he looked at the ceiling. “Hunk, he’s never going to like me. Well, obviously he likes me but he doesn’t _like_ like me, you know? Fuck man, he’s so pretty like, I would do anything just to be able to tell him how gorgeous he is right? I know he’s never going to feel the same way but oh dear god I already love him. I’m so out of his league I don’t even know why I bother to hope that he could ever like me back.” Lance said in a rush. 

Hunk sat quietly for a moment, watching as Lance moved his arm so he was covering his eyes.

“I don’t know how I’m going to get over him when I see how amazing he is every day,” Lance muttered. “He’s so great and the way he smiles at me? It just makes me melt inside every time.”

“It’s okay buddy,” Hunk said softly, patting Lance’s leg. “As you know, I think he likes you back. But I know you don’t agree with me so instead of talking about it, why don’t we go to the kitchen and I’ll make a fresh batch of cookies for you?”

Lance sighed before moving to sit up. He hugged his knees to his chest and gave Hunk a little smile. “That would be great, thanks, buddy.”

Hunk smiled and stood, stretching arms above his head before turning and holding his hand out for Lance. “Come on then.”

Lance took his hand and let Hunk pull him to his feet. “Thanks, Hunk. You’re the best.”

“Anything for you, Lance.”

***

Keith rolled his eyes as he walked into the training room. He moved into the observation area and leant against the wall, waiting for Shiro to finish the level.

“Level sixteen complete,” the castle's computer chimed.

“Shiro. Are you done?” Keith asked, pushing himself away from the wall and walking towards Shiro.

Breathing heavily, Shiro shook his head. “Not yet.”

“Don’t you want to talk about it?” Keith offered, coming to stand next to the older man, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Shiro shrugged him off. “Level seventeen.” He raised his voice, hearing the _ding_ from the computer confirming the level.

“Shiro-” Keith started before Shiro interrupted him.

“Listen, Keith, you never want to talk about your feelings and it would be really nice if you would just help me without questioning my every move.” Shiro snapped, instantly dropping down into a fighting stance as the two were surrounded by gladiator bots falling from the ceiling.

Keith rolled his eyes, sighing before summoning his bayard and dropping into a similar fighting stance. “Fine. But we’re talking afterwards.”

Ignoring him, Shiro ran forward, instantly thrusting his hand through the torso of one gladiator and turning to slice another in half.

By the time Shiro was ready to take a break, the lights throughout the castle had dimmed.

Panting, Keith slumped against the wall, holding his hands to his side. “You need to calm down Shiro.” He scolded lightly.

Shiro ungracefully allowed himself to fall to the floor, chest heaving. “Shut up Keith, you’ve done worse.”

“So,” Keith started, pushing himself off of the wall and walking over to the cupboard and taking out two water pouches. “Do you want to talk about Lance _now_?” He asked, throwing a water pouch to Shiro, watching as it landed somewhere near Shiro’s leg.

Shiro propped himself against the wall and grabbed the water, detaching the straw and stabbing it into the pouch. He took several gulps before putting the water on the floor next to him. He let his head fall back onto the wall and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

“You have a crush on him. So what? Tell him.” Keith said, sitting down next to Shiro, placing his own drink down.

“That’s the problem! I have a crush on him! Have you seen how beautiful he is, Keith?”

“You tell me that every time, Shiro, yes, he’s pretty.”

“I know I say it every time - that’s because it’s true. He’s so amazing and smart and he’s _super_ talented and I can’t see how he doesn’t see that.”

“I can’t see how you don’t see that he likes you back,” Keith muttered, picking up his water and taking a noisy sip.

Shiro turned and glared at the younger. “We both know you’re wrong.”

“And we both know that you’re in denial,” Keith said, shrugging. “But whatever, we’ll just both pretend that you’re right and that he doesn’t really like you.”

Shiro nodded his head once and sighed again. “Thank you,” He finished his water and scrunched up the pouch. “So, do you want to go again?”

Keith rushed to finish his pouch before scrunching it up and tossing it in the corner. “Sure. But get ready to lose, old man.”

“Old man?” Shiro repeated with disgust. He threw the empty pouch near Keith’s and lit up his arm. “We’ll see about that.” He smirked.

Keith smirked in return as he summoned his bayard. “Yes, we will.”

“Level Twenty Eight.”

***

“As we discussed yesterday, this mission could potentially be extremely dangerous,” Shiro said firmly, leaving no room for arguments. He turned to look at the picture of a shimmering unnamed purple planet behind him. “We don’t know who’s there nor do we know if they are a peaceful race.”

“And we don’t know about the galra situation,” Allura mentioned from behind him.

“Allura’s right. There could be hundreds of galra ships waiting for us. We need to be prepared at all times.” 

“What if there aren’t any galra ships?” Lance spoke up, looking at the floor as soon as Shiro’s gaze landed on him.

“If there aren’t any galra ships, we’ll count ourselves lucky and continue down to the planet to see if the village living there needs us.” Shiro turned back to the rest of the team, eyes lingering on Lance for a few moments more before turning to the projection. 

“We are always needing more people for the coalition,” Coran said cheerily, clicking a few buttons and changing the projection to a bigger map with glowing red and greens on it. The glowing red far outweighed the green.

“We’ve made a good start, but we still need to keep working at getting more planets to join the coalition,” Shiro said, turning to the team once more and maintaining eye contact with them all in an effort to convey how serious he was.

“Shall we all agree that we will go down planetside tomorrow and see what we’re dealing with?” Allura asked, nodding.

The team nodded in return, all with serious expressions.

“I say as early as possible,” Keith said, ignoring Lance’s over exaggerated groan. “The sooner we get to the aid of the village, the sooner we can protect them and the sooner we can have one more planet to join the coalition.”

“Keith’s right.” Allura turned to Shiro. “The earlier we get there, the better it will be for the people of the planet.”

“Then it’s settled.” Shiro nodded. “We go as soon as the morning cycle begins.” He turned to Lance, surprised to find that he was already looking at him. He watched as a blush made its way up Lance’s neck and onto his cheeks before Lance bit his lip and looked away once more.

“Alright then, we’ll convene again come morning. Rest well.” Allura nodded, leaving the room with Coran hot on her tail. 

“Um, so,” Lance spoke up, taking a step away from the group. “I’m going to, um. Go... See ya!” He gave up and rushed out of the room. 

Shiro sighed as he watched as Lance practically ran out of the room. He ignored the pointed look Keith gave him and walked out of the room.

***

The morning came sooner than Lance would have liked. As the castle lights steadily got brighter, Lance slipped further under the covers. He lay still for a moment, slowly relaxing once more before he heard Keith’s door opening across the hall.

“Get out of bed Lance!” Keith yelled, banging on Lance's door loudly moments later. “I know you’re still in bed! We need to leave within the varga!”

“Alright!” Lance yelled back, getting out of bed and stomping across his room. He entered the bathroom, making sure to turn on both taps on his sink so that Keith would hear and leave him to get ready. 

After preparing for the day and dressing in his paladin uniform, Lance finally left his room and made his way to the bridge. 

Shiro was already there, dark circles under his eyes and shoulders tense. He was looking over the projection that Coran had shown them the day before.

“Hey,” Lance said quietly as not to startle Shiro. “How long have you been up?”

Shiro turned at the sound of Lance’s voice and visibly relaxed. “Hey,” He replied, turning away from the projection completely. At Lance’s second question, he looked away from him for a moment, a small guilty look on his face. “I’ve been awake for a while,” He confessed.

Lance sighed and placed a hand on Shiro’s shoulder. “Try and catch some sleep on the ride over to the planet? It’s going to be a while and just because you’re our leader, it doesn’t mean you have to run yourself to the ground. You need to look after yourself too.”

Shiro looked at Lance for a moment before sighing and giving him a small smile. “Thanks, Lance,” He said softly.

“We’re a team, Shiro. We’re here for each other.” Lance patting his shoulder a couple of times before taking his hand back.

Shiro nodded and opened his mouth to reply when he was interrupted by Allura arriving.

“Oh!” She exclaimed when she noticed the two paladins. “Good morning you two. I’m surprised to see you here. Everyone is having breakfast.”

At the mention of breakfast, Lance’s stomach gurgled. “Oh man,” He pouted, letting his shoulders sag. “I didn’t even think about breakfast.”

“Don’t worry Lance!” Came Hunk’s voice as he, Keith and Pidge entered the room. “I brought you and Shiro enough food for the whole day.” He said cheerily, passing them a basket each. 

“Aw thanks, buddy! You’re the best.” Lance said, giving Hunk a one-armed hug.

“That’s okay. Sorry I couldn’t get it to your lion in time.” Hunk said, a brief look of guilt passing over his face.

“Don’t worry Hunk,” Shiro said, smiling at the yellow paladin. “Thanks for making it.”

“Paladins,” Allura called, getting their attention. “This mission is of crucial importance. We don’t know what’s down there and we don’t know how many galra we might face.”

“Well, we’ll have the castleship to help and it’s only a couple of vargas to planetside,” Pidge said, adjusting her glasses. 

“That’s the problem,” Allura sighed, looking at the paladins regretfully. “We won’t be bringing the castleship with us. We are landing on a nearby planet and taking the lions to the surface.”

“Allura, that isn’t what we agreed on,” Shiro stepped in, face stern. “That’s far more dangerous than the plan we had yesterday.”

“I understand your concern, Shiro. But this is the best way to complete this mission. You have to trust me.” Allura said, guilt written over her face but posture suggesting that she was unwilling to change her mind.

Shiro saw the challenge for what it was and stepped down, nodding. “How long does it take to get to the surface of the planet if we just have the lions?”

“Roughly a quintent and a half.” She said regretfully. “But that is just an estimation.”

Shiro sighed and nodded once more. “That’s fine, Princess.”

“Who are you and Coran going to fly with?” Lance asked.

“Coran will be coming in the Blue Lion and I shall be in the green - that way he can help navigate to the planet and I can help Pidge keep an eye on the readings.”

“Very well.” Shiro smiled at the older man as he let out a cheer.

“Let’s go.”

***

“Everyone sound off,” Shiro called over the comms. One by one the paladins sounded off, each not being the person he was waiting for. After a moment, Lance had yet to speak. Shiro sighed and opened a video feed directly to the Blue Lion. Only a couple of ticks had passed before he was connected.

Lance was curled up in his seat, snoring softly.

Shiro smiled softly at the image and let himself look for just a tick more before another call came through. He disconnected the call with the Blue Lion and accepted the one from the Red Lion.

“Is he still alive?” Keith said in lieu of a greeting. 

Shiro huffed a little and nodded. “He’s alive. Just sleeping.”

“Sleeping? We’re barely a couple of vargas into the journey.” Keith scoffed.

“And we woke him up way before he normally does so I can understand why he fell asleep so fast.”

“Where’s Coran?” 

“I don't know, I didn’t see him in the feed.”

“I see,” Keith said, smirking knowingly.

“What?” Shiro said defensively. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Do you wish you were sleeping with him right now?”

“Keith!” Shiro scolded.

“Oh my god, I meant _literally_ sleep. Get your mind out of the gutter Shiro.” Keith laughed, adjusting some of the controls on the Red Lion before sitting back in his seat. “So are you going to answer my question?”

“Well,” Shiro felt his cheeks start to redden. “It wouldn’t be the _worst_ thing ever.”

“You are so whipped,” Keith said, shaking his head. 

“Hey!”

“It’s true. You’re so head over heels and you can’t tell that he feels the exact same way.” Keith gave Shiro his best unimpressed look.

“Keith you need to stop with-”

“No Shiro.” Keith interrupted, scowling at Shiro through the video feed. “If Lance didn’t like you back, would he always stutter when you two are talking? Would he always turn red when you smile at him? Would he always linger around with you for no reason? Have you noticed that he’s started to mirror how you’re standing? Have you noticed that he always goes to you first? What about the fact that he literally can’t stand to be far away from you? Shiro, he’s paying so much attention to you because he _likes you_.”

Shiro had frozen, eyes wide.

Keith leant closer to the screen. “Shiro? Shiro, are you okay?”

“Oh.” Shiro let out a breath, seemingly shocked.

“Shiro?”

“He likes me.” It was quiet but the realisation was there. “Keith, he likes me!” Shiro suddenly shouted, standing up quickly to take a quick lap around Black’s cockpit.

“Finally.” Keith let himself fall back into his seat with a sigh before a small smile appeared on his face at his best friend so happy. “You’ve realised.”

“Keith,” Shiro whispered as he sat back down. He pushed his hair back and huffed out a little sigh. “Keith, he likes me.”

***

The closer they got to the planet, the more restless Shiro got. He paced around and around the cockpit, processing every look and every touch that he had shared with Lance over the past few months. Finally, it all made sense. _Lance liked him back_.

“When do we arrive at the planet’s atmosphere?” Hunk asked, bringing Shiro back to the situation at hand. 

He took a deep breath and sat back in his seat. Freaking out about Lance could wait until later - he had a job to do.

“We shouldn’t be very far, maybe a varga left before we reach the outer atmosphere. But,” She paused for a moment. “Where are the galra?”

She was right. There wasn’t another ship in sight as far as the eye could see. The planet glowed faintly, looking as if the light was almost pulsing.

“I don’t know but we might as well make the most of it,” Shiro said, shifting slightly and taking Black off of autopilot. “I suggest we continue on, quickly but cautiously.”

Everyone murmured their agreement, one by one taking their lions off of autopilot. Shiro flew ahead, eyes darting back and forth across his visual of the planet, fully expecting to find at least one hidden galra ship. Before too long, they were breaking the atmosphere of the planet undisturbed.

“Is anyone else wary of the fact that the galra don’t seem to be occupying the planet?” Allura asked quietly.

“I think we all are, Princess,” Keith said, not unkindly. “But like Shiro said - lets make the most of the situation and find the citizens before we run into any trouble.”

The closer they got to the planets surface, the more Shiro’s brow furrowed. Where were the galra? And where were the civilians?

Shaking his head a little, as if that would recentre his thoughts, Shiro leaned forwards in his seat, searching for any form of life that just... wasn’t there.

“Is it just me or does this place look deserted to you?” Lance said through the comms.

“Lance is right,” Pidge spoke up. “There’s no signs of life anywhere. I’m not picking up any readings.”

“Let’s land and get a feel of the place before we jump to conclusions,” Shiro said firmly. 

The five lions landed without a problem. Lance was first out of his lion, rambling.

“I don’t see how we could have gotten a distress signal from a deserted planet, I mean that is just imposs-” Suddenly, Lance froze.

“Lance?” Shiro asked, eyebrows furrowing once more.

“You guys have got to come and see this,” Lance said breathlessly.

Quickly the rest of the paladins and Coran and Allura, all made their way out of the lions.

“Oh my god.” Shiro heard Hunk say. He nodded silently in agreement, feeling his mouth drop open.

The planet may not have any living aliens upon it, but it certainly had living wildlife. Swaying in the wind, as far as the eye could see, were flowers. Flowers upon flowers, gently dancing to their own music. Shades of pink and purples and yellows and white and red, all mixing together to create a beautiful carpet across the surface of the planet.

Lance crouched down to gently stroke at the petals of the flower beside him.

It was blue and with a quick scan of the surrounding flowers, Shiro concluded that it was the only one.

“These look like snapdragons.” Lance said quietly.

“Snap what now?” Keith asked, staring at Lance.

“Snapdragons.” Lance repeated. “They’re my favourite flower from Earth.” He sighed and stood, turning away from the paladins to view the everlasting sea of colour.

“What do snapdragons mean?” Hunk asked, coming to stand next to Lance. 

“Oh snapdragons can mean loads of things,” Lance turned back to the others. “Some say that they mean grace and, due to its growth in rocky areas, strength. Others say that they stand for deviousness. They can also mean grace under pressure or,” Lance paused, looking around at his this team. “Inner strength in trying circumstances.” Lance met Shiro’s eyes and smiled gently. “Seems about right after everything we’ve been through.”

“It does.” Shiro agreed, smiling softly back at the Blue paladin.

The group were silent for a moment more before Coran stepped forward.

“If I may suggest, Princess?” He tilted his head at Allura. “Since this planet is seemingly abandoned and we have nowhere urgent to be… how about the night off?”

Allura smiled. “That sounds like a wonderful plan, Coran.” She agreed.

“Yes!” Hunk threw his arms in the air. “Right, Lance and I are going to get something to substitute for firewood. Pidge, Allura and Coran, you go and see if you can find anything edible. And Shiro and Keith, look around the lion's for blankets and stuff for us to all sit on.” Hunk instructed, before shooing everyone away to their jobs.

As everyone went their separate ways, Shiro stood quietly for a moment, observing the flowers.

“What are you thinking?” Keith asked, coming to stand beside the older man.

“Lance likes these flowers?”

“That’s what he said a minute ago. Snap something?” 

“Snapdragons.” Shiro hummed to himself before seemingly making up his mind and nodding. “Is it okay if you start getting the blankets? I just need to do something first.”

Keith frowned before shrugging and turning away. “Sure.”

“Start in the Black Lion,” Shiro called after him. When he was finally satisfied that he was alone, Shiro got to work in collecting a bunch of flowers. He chose a couple of each colour, making sure they were in pristine condition. Grinning to himself, he stood holding the flowers gently when something caught his eye. It was the blue snapdragon that Lance had been petting earlier. Feeling his smile get wider, Shiro uprooted this one as carefully as he could. He placed it in the middle of the bouquet, shifting the other flowers around it.

Once he was satisfied with the arrangement, he returned to the Black Lion where he found something that closely resembled a ribbon and quickly yet carefully, tied it around the flowers to keep them in place. He found a piece of paper and a pen and scribbled out a note before tucking the note into the bouquet and leaving them on the pilot seat, rushing out to help Keith.

***

Dinner was a peaceful affair. The food that Pidge, Coran and Allura had found was rich and filling and made the paladins groan in appreciation.

“Hunk, this is amazing!” Lance said, stuffing another spoonful into his mouth even whilst he was speaking.

“Lance, calm down.” Shiro chuckled, watching as Lance’s gaze snapped to him. Shiro felt his heart burn slightly - with affection or due to the food, he would never know. (He lied, he knew exactly what was causing his chest to ache).

“I can’t help it.” Lance said after a beat. “It’s amazing.”

“I agree,” Shiro nodded, smiling at the chef. “You really are a culinary genius.”

“Awww stop it you guys,” Hunk said bashfully, blushing a little. “I’m just glad you’re enjoying it.”

“Of course we are. There’s never been a meal that we haven’t enjoyed of yours,” Allura said, smiling.

Both Pidge and Keith nodded, mouths full and cheeks bulging.

Shiro shook his head at the sight of the two of them and turned his gaze back to Lance, to find him already looking in his direction. Shiro felt himself instantly smile at the younger.

Lance paused before smiling back, gaze just as soft. 

A beat passed, both in their little bubble, before Hunk clapped a hand on Lance’s shoulder, breaking him out of his stupor.

Lance instantly turned to his friend, complaining loudly about scaring him, slowly joining in with his friend's laughter.

At this natural lull in the group conversation, Shiro stood. “Would you excuse me?” He asked the group in general. “I just need to stretch my legs.”

After getting the go-ahead, he stepped over the blanket he had been sitting on and made his way back to the Black Lion. He stopped by his chair, looking down at the flowers, biting his lip. Taking a deep breath, he nodded to himself once.

Picking up the flowers carefully and tucking the note more securely into the middle, he made his way out of Black. Hiding behind her paws, he ran for the Blue Lion before he could lose his nerve.

Pausing before Blue, he felt himself freeze. _How am I going to get into Blue?_ He wondered. Before he could even begin to come up with a plan, Blue was lowering her head for him. He smiled at Black before making his way inside.

Blue’s cockpit was a lot smaller than Black’s, Shiro decided. Shaking his head to focus himself, he walked to the pilot's seat. Biting his lip once more, he draped the flowers over Blue’s dashboard, making sure the slip of paper was visible enough to, hopefully, be unmissable.

With one last look, he left the cockpit and returned to the makeshift campfire.

***

Later that evening, Lance made his way into Blue’s cockpit, stifling a yawn behind his hand. He paused behind his seat, looking around the cockpit to make sure everything was the way it should be before something caught his eye.

“Those definitely weren’t there before.” He muttered to himself, making his way around the pilot's chair to the dashboard. Now that he was closer, he could see that the random splash of colour in this normally dull cockpit was none other than snapdragons from the planet's surface. Reaching down to brush over the petals, he noticed the one blue flower he had been looking at when they had landed. Behind it, tucked securely in place, was a small slip of paper. Gently retrieving it from the bouquet, Lance opened it.

_Dearest Lance,_  
_This evening, after the other paladins are asleep and the fire has almost died, come and meet me where your flower stood._  
_I feel that it is time that I tell you something that I have been keeping from you for a long while._  
_I hope you’ll like it._  
_From Shiro x_

Lance read the note twice over before looking at the visual of the planet’s surface and the slowly dying fire. “What does this mean?” He asked himself.

Blue nudged the bond, making Lance smile. “I know. I’ll find out.”

***

Shiro let his head tilt back as the wind gently played with his hair. He breathed deeply, trying to contain his nerves. He couldn’t help but bounce on the balls of his feet, subconsciously trying to rid himself of some of the tension building within him.

Suddenly, he heard a quiet noise and whipped his head to the side. He froze, unsure of what to do, when Lance appeared, bouquet in hand.

Lance came to a stop in front of Shiro and smiled nervously. “Hi.” He said softly, shifting from foot to foot.

“Hi.” Shiro breathed out. For a moment, he felt as if he couldn’t breathe. Under the stars, Lance looked ethereal. His eyes shone the brightest blue and pierced into Shiro’s heart. He wanted to keep Lance like this forever.

“You… wanted to tell me something?” Lance said softly, breaking Shiro out of his stupor. 

“O-oh, yeah I did.” Shiro stuttered, feeling himself begin to blush.

Lance smiled and nodded encouragingly.

Shiro took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Lance.” He started awkwardly, one hand coming to rub at the back of his neck. “I can’t begin to explain to you what I’m feeling. I-”

“Then why don’t you start with the feelings you can explain?” Lance interrupted gently, smiling softly.

Shiro nodded, taking another deep breath and smiling gratefully at Lance. “Okay. I can do that.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “I feel grateful to have you in my life. Without you, I know I wouldn’t be the man I am today. I feel proud. You’ve come a long way from when we first got thrown out here and I couldn’t be prouder. I feel blessed. Blessed to have someone like you, that will always be here for me, no matter what.”

Lance smiled so widely, Shiro couldn’t help but smile back.

“Shiro,” Lance said softly. “I feel the same way.”

“Lance,” Shiro replied, stepping closer so that Lance would have to look up at him. “Lance, I feel as if I couldn’t live without you. You are my everything. You make me the happiest I’ve been in years.” Shiro smiled gently down at the younger. “I’m in love with you, Lance.”

Lance felt his mouth fall open. He replayed Shiro’s words in his head. Over and over. _I’m in love with you, Lance._

Shiro felt his smile drop when Lance didn’t respond. “Lance?” He asked quietly.

Lance suddenly threw his arms around Shiro, standing on his tiptoes to pull him as close as possible. “Shiro,” He whispered. “I love you too.”

Shiro paused. “You do?” He asked, shock written all over his face.

“Of course I do.” Lance smiled widely as he pulled back a little. 

Shiro breathed out, a smile returning to his face as he rested his forehead against Lance’s. "I can't believe it."

"You better, cause you're stuck with me now." Lance giggled happily before leaning in to press their lips together.

Shiro sighed into the kiss before pulling away. “I love you.” He repeated, kissing Lance’s nose.

“I love you too,” Lance replied, smiling as he kissed Shiro once more.

And if they appeared at breakfast the next day, holding hands and sharing delicate little kisses, Shiro smiling against Lance’s cheek as Lance giggled and gripped his hand a little tighter, then, well, that was their business.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!  
> Comments are appreciated <3
> 
> (also you can follow me on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/danceinsunlight) for updates!)


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